It was a cold day in December when I found myself in the back of a limo with one of the fittest women I have ever encountered in real life. I think I am not alone in my (now former) belief that women do not ever look that good in person – I thought that there must be always be a little air-brushing & photo trickery involved in those pictures you see of ‘perfect’ bodies. Enter Jari Love. Well as I munched on my holiday treats (thank you Robyn Moser) and we judged the Christmas Light Competition in Hidden Valley, I got to know a truly amazing couple, Jari & Ray Love who own a little fitness empire called Fitness Plus. I had brought along my good friend Fuzzy Love (no relation!) from our sister station Vibe 98.5 that night and before I knew it I had repeated a pattern that I have become famous for. Jari & Ray were telling us about the Get RIPPED!®  Bootcamp that was starting up in January and how there was a challenge involved…and before Fuzzy could push me out the door I had entered us into the competition – as rivals!  Since I hate to suffer alone, I also included a couple of our co-workers. It became gals vs guys…CJAY 92 vs Vibe and the battle was on. Kelsey Moore joined my team under the tutelage of Jari & crew and Fuzzy & Mastermind under Ray. (Please note that due to my ‘Monica’ personality – from Friends – no one else was willing to be my teammate!!  Weird…)

We had been on quite the journey so far…having our fat pinched by a guy half my age…(thanks for not laughing, Adam), changing up our diet (I miss pizza) and doing some workouts that I am still shocked to get through. Don’t get me wrong – I have never been ‘unhealthy’…but I have had two kids over the past three years, have a very busy life, and no matter what excuse I want to give I was not where I wanted to be. I am a firm believer that opportunities in life find you when you are ready and that moment in the limo was one perfect example. I was tired of sucking in my gut, cursing my dryer for shrinking my jeans and having to pick out clothes to cover up my body parts that I was not happy with. I don’t really know what happened and why I didn’t ever lose the ‘last 15 lbs’. But really, that doesn’t matter does it?! Six weeks into the challenge and I’ve dropped 11 lbs and felt so great – stronger, and most importantly, much happier.

As moms I think we sometimes put this pressure on ourselves that we should not ever take any time for ourselves and that we owe it to our kids to be at home every minute of our spare time. I can speak from experience that I am a much better mom today than I was before this challenge began. I have more patience and I am so proud of the healthy example I am setting for my children. Thank you to Jari, Miss Brittany, Ali & Lesley for all of your hard work so far. I am so excited to be working with you, so inspired by all of you, and appreciate you putting up with the two of us (examples provided upon request). We can’t wait to win this challenge (couldn’t get through this without a little trash talk) and we look forward to continuing to be the best that we can be! Six weeks later… Challenge is officially done.

As I worked through the last third of it I confess to have found myself wondering ‘WHEN will this ever be done?!’ And then when I realized the weigh-in loomed around the corner right next to bikini season I mentally prayed for a way to turn back time. Did I work as hard as I could? Could I have done better with the diet? How can I pay off the photographer to crop my head onto Lesley’s body?!? But-that is the beauty of the Ripped Boot Camp. I did have low points, I did fall off the wagon on occasion, I did bust Kelsey for cheating too…(hey I’m not going down alone!!) but at the end of the whole thing-I did do some amazing re-working of what God gave me. Pants were falling off of me, bra sizes were falling like the economy of ‘09…it was crazy!! I lost 17 ½ lbs, almost 9% body fat, (I’m considered an athlete now on the charts!) and I have not tired of the compliments.

On top of that I am so happy with my fitness level. SO HAPPY-that I want to continue on. This journey has not ended for me yet. Size four – here I come. I may even consider running a 10k sometime. Hey – I said ‘may’… Thank you Fitness Plus, thank you ladies (angels) I mentioned before, thank you Ray, Adam, Chris & Darren. If you guys find my lost LBS in your facilities-please DO NOT return to me!